Apparatus and method for controlling coolant flow of vehicle

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle includes a control valve connected to a plurality of cooling lines through which a coolant flows and controlling the coolant flow between the respective coolant lines. A controller is configured to control the control valve to flow the coolant between the plurality of cooling lines when a power is applied to the vehicle.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of priority to Korean Patent Application Number 10-2014-0125006 filed on Sep. 19, 2014, the entire contents of which application are incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and a method for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle capable of smoothly filling a coolant.

BACKGROUND

An internal combustion engine of a vehicle is a core component of the vehicle, which converts a form of energy by burning gasoline, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), or the like. When the engine is running, a high temperature of several hundreds to several thousands degrees typically occurs. If heat caused by the high temperature is not effectively controlled, a piston and a cylinder inside the engine are overheated and fused with each other, thereby causing serious damage to the engine.

A coolant circulates in an engine block to reduce the heat. The coolant circulates through a heater in an interior of the vehicle and a radiator in a bonnet of the vehicle to thereby cool the engine and to heat the interior of the vehicle using the heat of the engine.

Since the coolant flows into the radiator or the heater only in a state in which the engine is sufficiently preheated, it increases a speed of preheating the engine and prevents an excessive increase in temperature of the engine. A thermostat valve is provided to open a cooling line connected to the radiator or heater only in the case in which the coolant exceeds a set temperature.

The above-mentioned thermostat valve is provided with a separate jiggle valve allowing air in the cooling line to flow at the time of filling the coolant. The air smoothly flows through the jiggle valve to thereby prevent the coolant from being incompletely filled at the time of filling the coolant, thereby preventing an overheating of the engine caused by a lack of the coolant.

However, since the thermostat valve has some control limit, an incorporated flow controlling valve replacing the thermostat valve has been recently used. A multi direction changeover valve has been introduced, which includes a shielded cylindrical shaped housing having holes through which a fluid flows and an internal space in which the fluid flows.

The holes are formed in row and column along an outer peripheral surface of the housing to have a plurality of upper holes and lower holes at upper and lower portions of the outer peripheral surface. A spool divides the upper holes and the lower holes by shielding an internal middle portion of the housing and opens/closes the upper and lower holes while being rotated. A driving part has a shaft connected to the spool to provide power for rotating the spool. Therefore, a cooling line connected to the radiator, a cooling line connected to the engine, and a cooling line connected to the heater may be respectively connected, thereby making selectively connecting each line to each other, and an amount of coolant flowing through each line may be adjusted, thereby precisely controlling rapid preheating and overheating preventing functions.

However, the incorporated flow controlling valve is not provided with the jiggle valve such as the thermostat valve according to the related art and is always in a closed state if the engine is not running, thus preventing the coolant from flowing through the cooling line. Therefore, in order to fill the coolant, the engine should be preheated to a set temperature, and otherwise, it is impossible to continuously flow the coolant.

The matters described as the related art have been provided only for assisting in the understanding for the background of the present disclosure and should not be considered as corresponding to the related art known to those skilled in the art.

SUMMARY

An aspect of the present inventive concept provides an apparatus and a method for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle allowing a coolant to be supplemented even when the vehicle does not run without providing a separate jiggle valve.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventive concept, an apparatus for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle includes a control valve connected to a plurality of cooling lines through which a coolant flows and controlling the coolant flow between the respective coolant lines. A controller is configured to control the control valve to flow the coolant between the plurality of cooling lines when a power is applied to the vehicle.

The controller may control the control valve to flow the coolant between the plurality of cooling lines in a key-on state of the vehicle.

The controller may control the control valve in a completely opened state to connect all of the plurality of cooling lines to each other.

The controller may control the control valve in a completely opened state to connect all of the plurality of cooling lines to each other when the power is applied to the vehicle before an engine runs.

The controller may release the completely opened state of the control valve when the engine runs.

The controller may control the control valve so that the plurality of cooling lines are selectively connected depending on a temperature of the coolant when an engine runs.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present inventive concept, a method for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle is provided in which an apparatus for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle includes a control valve connected to a plurality of cooling lines through which a coolant flows and controlling the coolant flow between the respective coolant lines. A controller is configured to control the control valve to flow the coolant between the plurality of cooling lines when a power is applied to the vehicle. The method includes a detecting step of detecting a power application signal to the vehicle. An operating step controls the control valve to flow the coolant between the plurality of cooling lines when the power is applied to the vehicle.

In the detecting step, a key-on signal of the vehicle may be detected.

In the operating step, the control valve may be controlled in a completely opened state to connect the plurality of cooling lines to each other.

After the operating step, the completely opened state of the control valve may be released when an engine runs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventive concept.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventive concept.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, an apparatus and a method for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventive concept will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventive concept. The apparatus for controlling the coolant flow for the vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present inventive concept includes a control valve 100 connected to a plurality of cooling lines through which a coolant flows and controlling the coolant flow between the respective cooling lines. A controller 500 is configured to control the control valve 100 so that the coolant may flow between the plurality of cooling lines when power is supplied to the vehicle.

Referring to FIG. 1, the control valve 100 may be respectively connected to an engine cooling line 210 for cooling an engine 200, a heater cooling line 310 connected to a heater 300, and a radiator cooling line 410 connected to a radiator 400. The control valve 100 may connect or disconnect the respective cooling lines to or from each other and adjust an amount of coolant discharged into the respective cooling lines by the controller 500 taking into account of various factors such as a temperature of the engine, a driving situation, and the like.

The controller 500 may respectively control the coolant flow by classifying it into stop, warm-up, temperature control, cooling modes, and the like. The controller 500 is configured to block both inlet and outlet of the respective cooling lines to stop the coolant flow in the stop mode, and uses heat of the engine to perform a rapid warm-up while performing an oil warm-up in the engine cooling line 210 or discharging only a necessary flow amount to the heater cooling line 310 in the warm-up mode. In addition, the controller 500 optimally controls a temperature of the coolant of the engine 200 to a target value while gradually increasing the flow amount discharged from the engine cooling line 210 to the radiator cooling line 410 in the temperature control mode. In addition, if the temperature of the coolant is increased to a set value or more, the controller 500 maximally increases the flow amount discharged to the radiator 400, thereby preventing an overheating of the engine 200.

The control valve 100 may include a rotary motor (not shown) controlled by the controller 500 and a rotating fluid passage part (not shown) connecting or blocking the respective cooling lines according to a rotation of the rotary motor, or may include an independent motor for each inlet or outlet of each cooling line to allow the flow to be controlled by the controller 500. The connection between the plurality of cooling lines may be controlled by a plurality of rotating fluid passage parts (not shown). The control valve 100 according to various exemplary embodiments may be configured.

The controller 500 may control the control valve 100 so that the coolant may flow between the plurality of cooling lines when the power is supplied to the vehicle, that is, when the vehicle is in a key-on state. In this case, the controller 500 may control the control valve 100 in a completely opened state so that all of the plurality of cooling lines are connected to each other.

Since the coolant may flow through all cooling lines even when the vehicle is not running, air may flow in the cooling lines as if a jiggle valve of a thermostat is provided, and thus, the coolant may be filled. In addition, since the engine needs not to be preheated until the control valve 100 is completely opened, time and cost loss due to unnecessary preheating may be removed.

The key-on state may be a state in which power is applied to electronic units of the vehicle to run the electronic units, and may be a previous step in which a key is inserted and rotated. The control valve 100 may be operated in an ACC step supplying power to only accessory electronic units such W as clock, and the like in a key-off state. In addition, when the vehicle is in a run preparation state, for example, when a driver having a smart key approaches the vehicle at a predetermined distance and the vehicle becomes a run enable state, the controller 500 may control the control valve 100 to be completely opened.

The controller 500 may control the control valve 100 so that the plurality of cooling lines are selectively connected depending on the temperature of the coolant at the time of running the engine 200. That is, the controller 500 may completely open the control valve 100 while the engine 200 is running and selectively connects the cooling lines or adjusts the flow amount of the coolant according to the stop/warm-up/temperature control/cooling modes as described above.

In other words, the controller 500 controls the control valve 100 to completely open so that all of the plurality of cooling lines are connected to each other when power is applied to the vehicle before running the engine 200.

In addition, a temperature sensor (not shown) configured to detect the temperature of the coolant is further provided, such that the controller 500 may obtain temperature information.

The apparatus for controlling the coolant flow for the vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present inventive concept described above may be operated according to a method for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle as shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventive concept. The method for controlling the coolant flow for the vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present inventive concept includes a detecting step (S100) of detecting a power application signal to the vehicle. An operating step (S120) controls the control valve 100 so that the coolant may flow between a plurality of cooling lines at the time of applying power to the vehicle.

In the detecting step (S100), a key-on signal of the vehicle may be detected, and if it is determined that the vehicle is in a key-on state (S110), the control valve 100 may be controlled to be in a completely opened state so that the plurality of cooling lines are connected to each other in the operating step (S120). If the engine is in a run state (130), the completely opened state of the control valve is released, and the cooling lines may be selectively connected or a flow amount of the coolant may be adjusted according to a plurality of modes which are preset, for example, stop/warm-up/temperature control/cooling modes (S140). A detailed description for the respective steps is as above.

According to the present disclosure, in the apparatus and the method for controlling the coolant flow for the vehicle having the above-mentioned structure, since the separate jiggle valve needs not to be provided to circulate air, it is possible to reduce production cost.

In addition, since the coolant is smoothly filled, it is possible to prevent damage of the engine due to limited filling of the coolant.

Although the present inventive concept is shown and described in connection with the specific embodiments, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising: a control valve connected to a plurality of cooling lines through which a coolant flows, the control valve controlling the coolant flow between the respective coolant lines; and a controller configured to control the control valve such that the coolant flows between the plurality of cooling lines when a power is applied to the vehicle.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the control valve such that the coolant flows between the plurality of cooling lines in a key-on state of the vehicle.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the control valve to be in a completely opened state to connect all of the plurality of cooling lines to each other.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the control valve to be in a completely opened state to connect all of the plurality of cooling lines to each other when the power is applied to the vehicle before an engine runs.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the controller releases the completely opened state of the control valve when the engine runs.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the control valve to selectively connect the plurality of cooling lines depending on a temperature of the coolant when an engine runs.
 7. A method for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle, in which an apparatus for controlling a coolant flow of a vehicle includes: a control valve connected to a plurality of cooling lines through which a coolant flows, the control valve controlling the coolant flow between the respective coolant lines; and a controller configured to control the control valve such that the coolant flows between the plurality of cooling lines when a power is applied to the vehicle, the method comprising: a detecting step of detecting a power application signal to the vehicle; and an operating step of controlling the control valve such that the coolant flows between the plurality of cooling lines when the power is applied to the vehicle.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein in the detecting step, a key-on signal of the vehicle is detected.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein in the operating step, the control valve is controlled to be in a completely opened state to connect the plurality of cooling lines to each other.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein after the operating step, the completely opened state of the control valve is released when an engine runs. 